A New Pq Feature

[+RocketMan]

I often go caching with other local cachers and most of them have a lot of finds. When planning a day of caching with one or two other cachers, it would be nice if there was a quick way to download just the caches that none of us have found.

 

An option in the PQ generator that allowed the exclusion of caches found by another cacher (or cachers) would do the trick. Allowing the exclusion of caches found by up to two or three other cachers would be great.

 

Would this be possible? Would anyone else find this useful?

 

RM

Edited September 10, 2004 by Rocket Man

[+as77]

This has come up earlier. It would be very useful.

[+strikeforce1]

Check into GSAK, it's a database program that will do it. Once you download all your pq.gpx into it, you can use the cachers name or their gc id # to filter out the ones both/all have done. It's one of the reasons, why I got it. you can even sort out caches by owner's name. Many more filters are also avail. to use. I've only used it for a week, but it has worked wonders, already. If you run a pq, download the .gpx and run your filters, you'll get the freshest results you need.

 

I think, you want gc to do this for you, if I'm correct.

I think having the site do all the calcs, you want would greatly bog down the system, though. Think about the slowness last month, especially on the weekends.

The site would come to a screaching hault! Besides not being practical, from their business standpoint. Hope this helps a little. SF1

[+as77]

GSAK is not a real solution because the GPX files only contain the last 5 logs (and some of those could be notes or DNFs). Any cachers who found a cache earlier than the last 5 logs will not be included. Only a PQ could have all that information.

[+as77]

One solution is that all participants run their own PQs to retrieve their unfound caches, then everyone sends their GPX files to someone who then combines all those GPX files in GSAK. This could be a bit cumbersome if a large group goes caching together...

[+Team DEMP]

GSAK is not a real solution because the GPX files only contain the last 5 logs (and some of those could be notes or DNFs). Any cachers who found a cache earlier than the last 5 logs will not be included. Only a PQ could have all that information.

I looked at old caches (2000) in split view in GSAK and I see logs going back to 2001. I even ran a log search filter for an entry back in 2001 and it found it. If I look at raw GPX files, yes, the 5 most recent are included. Not sure how I got all the old ones since I have been caching only since 2003.

 

Also, GSAK will continue to add log entries for caches in a GPX file. Over time, assuming you're updating the cache through content in a GPX, you'll continue to build upon the log entries in GSAK and not overlay them.

Edited September 10, 2004 by Team DEMP

[+RocketMan]

One solution is that all participants run their own PQs to retrieve their unfound caches, then everyone sends their GPX files to someone who then combines all those GPX files in GSAK. This could be a bit cumbersome if a large group goes caching together...

How do you "combine them in GSAK" to get just the matching unfounds?

 

What I have done is to have my friend send me his unfounds which I open in GSAK. I then open a PQ of my founds in GSAK and tell it to update the existing caches. I then filter so I just have the remaining unfounds and bingo I have the caches that neither of us have found. This will also work with more than two cachers, but you will need a PQ of founds from each extra person. This is cumbersome and it only will work if all the cachers are premium members.

 

It sure would be easier to have the "Not Found By" option in the PQ generator.

 

RM

[+as77]

How do you "combine them in GSAK" to get just the matching unfounds?

You don't need the founds from anyone. Just request the unfounds from everyone and then merge them.

It sure would be easier to have the "Not Found By" option in the PQ generator.

Absolutely.

Maybe TPTB doesn't want it because this would be a way for non-premium members to get some benefits of PQs.

[+RocketMan]

You don't need the founds from anyone. Just request the unfounds from everyone and then merge them.

So how do you merge them so just the ones that are common to all the PQ's can be filtered out? RM

[+as77]

You don't need the founds from anyone. Just request the unfounds from everyone and then merge them.

So how do you merge them so just the ones that are common to all the PQ's can be filtered out? RM

Hmmm... you are right, I'm not sure if this is possible with GSAK, I'm not such a big GSAK user. However, there is another solution that robertlipe posted some time ago. Order a big PQ with all the caches in the area and order PQs for each person containing only their found caches. Then use gpsbabel to combine all these files and apply the duplicate filter with the option that removes all instances of duplicates. The command line to use (I quote robertlipe's post now):

 

gpsbabel -i gpx -f thebigpqofthearea.gpx -f myfinds -f yourfinds -f hisfinds -f herfinds -x duplicate,shortname,all -o gpx -F grouphunt.gpx

 

Then the output file grouphunt.gpx will only contain caches unfound by everyone.

[+Team DEMP]

You don't need the founds from anyone. Just request the unfounds from everyone and then merge them.

So how do you merge them so just the ones that are common to all the PQ's can be filtered out? RM

In the latest version of GSAK, you can filter logs based on whether another cacher has or has not logged a found, not found or note.

 

See the online version of the help file at Example 5. Select all caches in my current database that I have not found AND my friend (geocaching.com name is "Bozo") has not found

[+as77]

You don't need the founds from anyone. Just request the unfounds from everyone and then merge them.

So how do you merge them so just the ones that are common to all the PQ's can be filtered out? RM

In the latest version of GSAK, you can filter logs based on whether another cacher has or has not logged a found, not found or note.

 

See the online version of the help file at Example 5. Select all caches in my current database that I have not found AND my friend (geocaching.com name is "Bozo") has not found

Like I said, that is a very limited and imperfect solution because the PQs only contain the last 5 logs.

[+RocketMan]

However, there is another solution that robertlipe posted some time ago. Order a big PQ with all the caches in the area and order PQs for each person containing only their found caches. Then use gpsbabel to combine all these files and apply the duplicate filter with the option that removes all instances of duplicates.

That sounds familiar. Like I said in my earlier post, that is the way I am doing it now, but I do it with GSAK rather than gpsbabel:

 

What I have done is to have my friend send me his unfounds which I open in GSAK. I then open a PQ of my founds in GSAK and tell it to update the existing caches. I then filter so I just have the remaining unfounds and bingo I have the caches that neither of us have found. This will also work with more than two cachers, but you will need a PQ of founds from each extra person.

 

This method works great, but it is a pain to gather up all of the PQ's and it requires that everyone is a premium member. RM

[+Stunod]

KeenPeople.com has a Group Geocaching Tool that will take multiple GPX files and return only caches that are unfound in all of them.

[+as77]

KeenPeople.com has a Group Geocaching Tool that will take multiple GPX files and return only caches that are unfound in all of them.

Actually what it does is that it returns a gpx file that only contains the caches that occur in all of the uploaded gpx files. So you have to provide gpx files that only contain the unfound caches from each participant. It's a good tool!

Edited September 10, 2004 by as77